We are in Ontario. MSS/MSI testing was done before we had asked about it - so maybe standard for stage 4? A few months ago he was approached asking if he wanted to participate in a study that would take some of his already resected tumor sample and do a bunch of testing on it to get more details about it. They will provide us the results and then just want to monitor his medical records. Sounded like a win for us so we are just waiting to get the results back. I believe toronto and Hamilton was collecting participants for this study.

Canada777 wrote:We are in Ontario. MSS/MSI testing was done before we had asked about it - so maybe standard for stage 4? A few months ago he was approached asking if he wanted to participate in a study that would take some of his already resected tumor sample and do a bunch of testing on it to get more details about it. They will provide us the results and then just want to monitor his medical records. Sounded like a win for us so we are just waiting to get the results back. I believe toronto and Hamilton was collecting participants for this study.

I'm Stage 3B and MSS/MSI testing was done without me asking for it so it appears to be standard of care in the US so I think that it would also be standard of care for Stage 4. You might want to ask for more details on the testing. If it's NextGen testing, then definitely go for it as it should tell you what Gene Mutation or Gene Mutations he has and targeted treatments open up for certain kinds of gene mutations. Some drugs are contra-indicated for some Gene Mutations as well.

The previous method of tumor testing (and it's still used as it's cheaper) is to test one or two genes at a time. NextGen sequencing captures the whole Genome and tests for Gene Mutations known to be cancer-related and it can also find genetic differences that haven't been researched. You can see that my Gene Mutation is KRAS G12D in my signature below. I learned that as a result of Genomic Tumor Testing. But I'm pretty sure that insurance won't cover it. I asked my Oncologist to get the testing and he brushed me off. I know that Dana Farber Cancer Institute does it for Lung Cancer patients because there are targeted treatments for it. There are fewer targeted treatments for CRC but there are quite a few clinical trials for them and those might be much better options down the road.

Canada777 wrote:We are in Ontario. MSS/MSI testing was done before we had asked about it - so maybe standard for stage 4? A few months ago he was approached asking if he wanted to participate in a study that would take some of his already resected tumor sample and do a bunch of testing on it to get more details about it. They will provide us the results and then just want to monitor his medical records. Sounded like a win for us so we are just waiting to get the results back. I believe toronto and Hamilton was collecting participants for this study.

Would you be able to provide more exact details of this ????If we can identify the exact centers / process / trial / contacts etc., then we would let other Canucks know about it as welland they could push for in their own areas !!! .. or at least educate their own Docs

CheersCRguy

Caregiver x 3Stage IV A rectal cancer/lung met11 Year survivormy life is an ongoing totally randomized UNcontrolled experiment with N=1 !Review of my Journey so far